The Keeper and The Outcast
by ScaleThornWolf
Summary: My first story on here. Inspired with the help of a few friends and somewhat based off of the online game. It's still in the early stages but I will change the summary as I progress. The rating is T for teen just in case.
1. Chapter 1

In the halls of Grenhaven Castle, a red fox dashed along with a green cloak in his mouth. A boy followed not too far behind, apologizing profusely for running into others as he chased the animal.

"Zephyr, please we don't have time for this!" he wheezed as he rounded another corner. It had been nearly seven days since his arrival to Greenhaven, and still his spirit animal refused to listen to him. Every morning it was the same routine: get dressed, chase after your stolen cloak, go to training after retrieving said cloak, train (and hopefully have your spirit animal listen to you), and then do whatever you planned the night before.

_They say that I'm the Keeper. Rohan Summerfall, the beacon of hope for Erdas. How can I do that when I can't even control this stupid fox?_ The boy, Rohan, thought to himself as he rolled blue his eyes and turned down the next hall only to find it empty.

_Every time! Why does he always do this? He runs, I chase, he escapes, I search for him, and then I turn around and there he is on floor. Why couldn't I have summoned something slower or more obedient? _Rohan sighed as he slumped against the wall, eyes closed.

"Okay, I give up. You can come out now…..I'm not mad I'm just tired…Come on, I don't want to keep Eko waiting…Please?"

Nothing but silence rewarded Rohan's plea. Rohan waited lost in thought, Zephyr would come eventually. A small kick to his shin broke him out of his thoughts. Rohan opened his eyes to see a Greencloak with a scowl on his face, a cloak in his left hand, and his right hand holding the limp body of a fox by the scruff.


	2. Chapter 2

Rohan gasped, Zephyr wasn't moving, and he didn't even appear to be breathing.

"What did you do!?" his voice barely above a shriek of terror.

"Is he yours?" the Greencloak growled as he threw the cloak in his hand at the boy.

"What did you do!?"

"Is that a yes?"

"What did you do!?" was all Rohan could answer.

"What did I do? I caught him, isn't it that obvious?" the Greencloak lifted the animal up to his face at eye level. "Don't worry, he's not dead. He's just faking it. Most animals do that when they're caught like prey." He answered in a softer tone glancing over to the boy and handing over the spirit animal to the frightened Keeper.

Sensing the security of solid ground again, the fox jumped up with a yelp and scampered to hide behind Rohan's leg. Something about Zephyr's stance and the tone of his growl told Rohan that there was something dangerous about this Greencloak, not wanting to be even later for training with Eko, Rohan turned and ran.

"I suggest you learn to have better control of your spirit animal, unless you end up annoying everyone else in this castle! Now get out of my sight before I change my mind about releasing your little trickster." Was all Rohan received as he dashed away.

_Why would a Greencloak be so mean, especially towards a spirit animal?_ Rohan wondered to himself.

Rohan realized that he didn't see a tattoo of a spirit animal anywhere on the Greencloak's arm. Is that why? Was he jealous over that fact that Rohan had a spirit animal while his was probably gone forever?


	3. Chapter 3

Rohan struggled to stop himself from falling off the saddle when he heard the shrill screech of Eko's training whistle. He had been forced to train on horseback for an extra hour as consequence for being late…again.

"This is what happens if you continue to be late for lessons. I hope you learn from this and not disappoint me next time. And I don't care if your fox made you late, you should know how to cooperate by now" Eko, his mentor snapped. Her tigress, who had maintained a predatory gaze throughout the session, was now curled up asleep at her side.

"Yes, ma'am" was all Rohan could say in return. It was best not to argue with her.

Eko was short for her age of twenty years, being only 5 feet and 6 inches she was often mistaken for an 18 year old Greencloak. She seemed to have a no-nonsense attitude when it came to training, especially when the training involved horses or medicine. She rarely ever taught him in combat skills, she always made him learn about animals and their behaviors instead. Sometimes Rohan wondered if she ever even experienced combat.

Glancing at the sky to see that it was nearly midday she sighed "That's enough for today. We'll resume training tomorrow morning…and DON'T. BE. LATE" taking care to enunciate the last three words.

"Yes ma'am"

"You're being awfully quiet today. You didn't say anything when you came in, you haven't asked any questions, all you ever said this entire time is "Yes ma'am" and "No ma'am", and you've never said any of that before. Is everything okay?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"Just wondering about something"

"What is it? I'm willing to help you but I can't do that if I don't know what's plaguing your mind."

Rohan thought for a moment before he blurted out "Can you still be a Greencloak without a spirit animal?"

Eko was silent for a moment, putting a finger to her lips in thought. "I don't know. I've heard of spirit animals losing their Greencloak and still reside in Greenhaven. One of the horses in the stable is an example….but I don't know if that's the same for people"

"What happens when you lose your spirit animal?" Rohan asked as dismounted from the saddle.

"I'm not sure. But I heard that it's a horrible experience, more horrible than losing an arm or leg from what I was told…Are you and Zephyr arguing?"

At the mention of the word 'arguing' Eko's tiger lifted its head and seemed to look at Eko with baleful eyes and made a low moan-like sound followed by a rustling noise, signaling that it wanted some form of attention. Zephyr, who had yet to go into dormant state, trotted over to Rohan and nuzzled against his leg, probably to disprove the idea that he and Rohan were arguing.

"No, sometime I have to chase Zephyr when he takes something from me. But I always forgive him later I would never argue with him, I was just curious…"

"Did something happen?" Eko asked, her voice filled with worry and concern.

"I saw a Greencloak today who didn't have a spirit animal, it wasn't dormant on his arm or sitting next to him or anything….He caught Zephyr as I was chasing him this morning, he wasn't happy about it…He told me to "get out of my sight before I change my mind about releasing your little trickster"….The way he was holding Zephyr almost made me think he was dead." Rohan recited with perfect clarity of the incident in the halls.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about. He radiates this feeling of anger and hostility to strangers but he has a good heart." Eko's voice seemed to change from concern to more of a relaxed but guarded tone.

"Why does he act so mean?"

"I don't know exactly why. He's been like that for a long time. I think he does it because he was raised that way. Show no friendly emotions and you won't get hurt. That's what I think it is."

"But what about his spirit animal, he didn't have one on his arm or anything?"

"He has a spirit animal; it's just very shy around strangers and prefers not to let others know what she looks like. They both worry that everyone will be afraid of them if they find out the true identity of his spirit animal."

"What is his spirit animal?"

"I'd like to tell you more, but I have several commitments that I need to attend to. If you really want to know, I suggest you ask him yourself to get a better idea of who he really is rather than finding unproven information about him behind his back like a gossiping fishwife." She snapped out in irritation of having to answer so many questions.

Rohan shut his mouth and decided it was best not to ask anymore, and led his horse back to the stables. After unsaddling and grooming the horse in its stall, he thought angrily to himself about the earlier conversation

_Gee, what's with the attitude all of the sudden? Why is she getting all defensive about it? She's the one that started it. If I hadn't have to chase Zephyr this morning this whole thing wouldn't have happened_

The sharp bark of a fox broke Rohan out of his thoughts just in time to avoid running straight into the door of the Moon Tower, he had no clue as to why his sub-consciousness had decided to bring him here. He couldn't help but glance at Zephyr who was pawing at the door by his feet. Taking it as a sign that his anger was something that needed to be dealt with, he sighed and pushed open to door.

The room looked empty except for the instruments piled around the room and something that appeared to be a 7 foot crocodile lying in the middle of the room with its legs stretched out and lying flat on the floor, but it didn't look like any crocodile Rohan had ever seen before. Curious, he crept closer to get a better look while Zephyr sniffed its tail tip from a short distance.

Its head was short and its jaws lacked teeth, the back and tail didn't have the characteristic plating of normal crocodilians but rather a rugged scaled hide. Its body was a dull grey in color with a splash of light brown along its back, almost giving it the appearance that it had recently rolled in the mud. Its feet were not webbed but rather had five digits tipped with wicked looking claws. It didn't look like a crocodile at all; it looked more like a lizard to him.

"_What is this thing?" _Rohan whispered to himself as he circled the strange looking crocodile. Wondering whether it was just a figment of his imagination or a real animal, he slowly reached out to touch the middle of its tail. He knew that touching the head was more stupid than going into battle without a weapon.

"By the Four Fallen! Did you even listen to me about staying out my way? Or are you just too stupid to know better?" a voice growled behind Rohan, causing him to spin around on his heels only to lose his balance a fall backwards on the crocodile-lizard. The crocodile-lizard hissed in response and whipped its body out from under him, Zephyr yelped in surprise as its tail smacked against his face. Claws scraped against the floor as it pulled its body into an upright position on its back legs, looming over the boy as if it were about to eat him. Rohan looked up to see the same Greencloak from earlier this morning glaring down with a twisted look of disgust and confusion.

"Well," he said "are you too stupid to remember what I say, or do you just enjoy making people angry?"

* * *

Wow, that took forever for me to write (it took at least 2 hours today). I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far. The questions Rohan asks about whether you can still be a Greencloak if you lose your spirit animal is something that I've always wondered about.

Part of me thinks that you can still be a Greencloak but your abilities are limited. In book 2 they mentioned a horse that had once been a spirit animal before losing his human companion, and yet the horse is allowed to stay in Greenhaven, so I thought "Is that the same for people too?" I don't know.

I have not yet finished book 3 due to the demands of school work and other real life commitments but that doesn't mean I still cant write in my spare time. My mind keeps planning out future chapters that are not supposed to happen until way later in the story, and to prevent myself from losing those ideas I have to keep working on the next chapter to get there.

Thank you for reading and don't forget to give constructive criticism. Please let me know of any grammar errors and I will be happy to fix them.

Sincerely,

ScaleThorn


	4. Chapter 4

Before Rohan could think of a reasonable excuse the Greencloak yanked him up off the floor by the collar, raising the boy to his eye level. The crocodile-lizard staggered back before lowering itself down to all fours to gaze up and flick her tongue out against Rohan's feet. Now at eye level with each other, Rohan was able to get a better look at the older Greencloak's features.

He was obviously strong, strong enough to lift an 11 year old boy. His hair was long and unkempt, reaching down to his shoulders. His brown eyes remain fixed on Rohan, as if he were a wolf staring down an unruly pup. His face had a tight jawline and there were several small scars barely visible beneath the messy hair along his forehead. Roughly a foot taller than Eko, everything about him radiated hostility and antipathy.

"Well, what are you doing here?" he growled, "I thought I told you to stay out of my way? Are you too stupid to remember what I say, or do you just enjoy making people angry?"

"Um, I uh" Rohan stammered, trying to think up a clever lie. "I…"

"I what?" the elder Greencloak snapped, "Did you come here on your own free will just to annoy me, or did you come here for me to beat some sense into your skull?"

"I…I was sent here by my mentor to… to work on bonding with Zephyr." Was all Rohan could stammer out.

"Oh, really?" the Greencloak returned sarcastically before dropping the young Keeper to the floor.

"Yes, I can play music; I just never found the time to do so." Rohan's eyes darted around the room wildly, trying to locate the closest instrument that looked simple enough to play. Just then, an idea popped into his head.

"I…I'm sorry for my actions. I think we got off on the wrong foot, if I play something good…do you think we could start over? If not, I'll leave and never get in your way again."

The Greencloak thought for a moment "Alright, fine. Tia has grown tired of the usual Amayan melodies and its put her in a rather bad mood, I'm sure if you play something she likes I'll forgive you."

Rohan didn't need to hear any more explanation, he was already rifling through a collection of music sheets from Eura (the only music he knew how to play). All of them appeared to be too complex for his limited knowledge of music and reading. The only thing he knew how to play was a simple flute, and he only knew a few tunes to play with the instrument.

_Where are the music sheets for flute music when you need them? _Rohan thought frantically. Zephyr sniffed around the box of music sheets, as if he would be able to find one by scent.

"Is there something wrong?" the young man behind him asked in an almost impatient manner.

"Uh, I uh….I can only find one tune to play for a flute." Rohan stammered nervously.

"Doesn't matter, if you know how to play it then play it. Just make sure you don't play too low or high-pitched or Tia won't be able to hear it clearly." Was the only thing the young man could say that didn't sound like anything insulting…or reassuring either.

With shaking hands the young Keeper lifted the flute to his lips, took a deep breath to calm him and to still his shaking hands, and began to play. The tune was slightly fast paced, it was supposed to be. It was a tune that Rohan used to play for young noble ladies who wished to dance. Rohan noticed the crocodile-lizard close its eyes and bob its head in an off-beat rhythm; it apparently seemed to be enjoying the music.

"You play well for one so young and a tune so fast. It's an interesting one that neither of us has heard before. Tell me: what is your name?" the older Greencloak asked after Rohan had finished playing.

"It's Rohan"

The Greencloak grunted at the name. "Never heard of you, my name is Glen and that's Tia whom you've already met." He gestured to the crocodile-lizard who was now nuzzling his right leg before vanishing to dormant state.

"Nice to meet you," Rohan returned "hard to believe you haven't heard of me. I'm the one everyone's calling The Keeper."

"You're the one Lenori prophesized about?" Glen asked, rather disappointed.

"Yeah, why are you jealous or something?"

"No, I just assumed you'd be a bit older or stronger or something if you were the Keeper. So far you seem like no use to the Greencloaks, considering the fact you can barely get along with your spirit animal"

"I'm not weak; I just need time to develop enough skill to be useful." Rohan retorted angrily. For someone who wanted to start over and become friends, Glen didn't seem to do a good job at it.

* * *

Geez, this took a long time to write out. I've been rather busy with school and other family matters lately and I'm sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. Chapter 5 will hopefully uploaded soon. I have the beginning part planned out in my head but I need to work out the rest so it may take some time.

I will gradually reveal a bit more about Glen and his spirit animal (Tiamat) as the story progresses. I'm planning on doing so in the next chapter or so after Chapter 5, the plotline for Ch. 5 is really persistent in wanting to be put onto paper/typed according to my brain. But I still have school and some important family matters going on that require my attention, don't worry I'll still find time to write whether I be happy as a lark or down in the dumps with sadness.

I have finished book 3&amp;4 but I will not be reading Against the Tide because someone thought I had already read it and told me who the trator was anyway without even asking me. Sooo yeah, I'm pretty bummed about that.

Thank you for reading and don't forget to give constructive criticism. Please let me know of any grammar errors and I will be happy to fix them.

Sincerely,

ScaleThorn


	5. Chapter 5

Grunting in frustration, Rohan struggled to pull the stubborn arrow out of the target. After thinking it over Eko had finally decided to actually teach the young Keeper how to use a bow and arrow. He thought it would be simple enough, but everything he did was easier said than done. His stance was off, his aim was terrible, and his head was still filled with questions over his acquaintance with Glen the previous day.

"So, how did it go?" Eko asked, standing back five paces away from the target.

"How do you think it went? My aim is still terrible." He returned disappointedly.

"No not that. I meant how was it meeting with Glen for the first time?"

Rohan shrugged, "He's okay I guess. He doesn't seem very friendly though."

"Eh, that's a normal thing for him to do." Eko grunted. "It's a behavior that he was taught when he was very young. Avoid creating emotional attachments with strangers, and you won't get hurt."

"Why would someone teach their kids to do that? Where's he from anyway?" he asked as he walked back to his mentor after finally retrieving the last arrow.

"I dunno. I don't know a lot about people from Amaya so it's probably part of his culture I guess." Eko returned with a shrug.

"Is he one of the Raven people? Is his spirit animal from Amaya too? What is it anyway; I've never seen someone from Amaya with a spirit animal like his? I heard that the Raven people usually have the most bizarre of spirit animals. They do have spirit animals' right?" Rohan asked, a thousand questions running through his head.

"He's not from one of the Raven tribes. I don't know a lot about them, but I do know that his spirit animal isn't from Amaya though."

"Really, what is it? Is it from Nilo?" Rohan asked, eagerness filling his words.

"In its native homeland it's referred to as the _buya darat_ or land crocodile. But the most common name for that animal known in Erdas is _Komodo dragon_."

Rohan's excitement was soon replaced with confusion. Buya darat? Komodo dragon? He never heard of an animal with that name before. He had searched through every book in the library for information on Glen's "land-crocodile" last night but it seemed as if it never existed. The name sounded like it came from Nilo or maybe Zhong, the Hundred Isles was a possibility.

"It's not from Nilo or Zhong either though" she said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "It's from the Lost Lands"

The last statement caught Rohan off guard "Why would someone from Amaya have a spirit animal from the home of the Conquerors? Doesn't that make…"

The second question was never finished as he was cut off mid-sentence with what he guessed was a punch to the side of face. He lifted is hand and felt the side of his face. He had never been slapped before. Whatever he said had obviously made Eko upset.

"Oh! So you think that the animal determines the type of person you are? You think he actually wanted to have a buya darat because he was raised to be cold hearted like a lizard? You think I chose to have Baihu as my spirit animal? No! You're wrong! He chose me, just like how Tiamat chose him. The animal decides who will summon them with the Nectar, not the drinker. You should know that by now and not judge a person by their animal rather than jumping to conclusions like the foolish child you are!" Eko scolded, her face twisting into an awkward snarl, almost reminding him of a wolf.

Rohan looked away, a sign of submission that he had seen dogs do back home whenever there was a disagreement over who was boss. That usually seemed to calm her down. These outbursts of hers were starting to become more common now and part of him began to think that it was more than just his actions that triggered them.

Her expression softened when she noticed his fox cowering beside him. "Uh, um. I'm sorry, that was out of line."

"It's okay, I was out of line too…." his voice barley a whisper.

"Forget this whole conversation ever happened. Let's return to your lesson."

The Keeper nodded, turned around and nocked a new arrow onto his bowstring. After this training session, he'd have to go check the library to see if there was any information on how to deal with his mentors erratic mood-swings.

* * *

Elsewhere in Nilo,

In the grassy savannah there lay a small watering hole. At the muddy bank their stood a massive beast and a human. This animal was once called a wildebeest, but it barely looked like a wildebeest now. Its horns were rimmed with spikes resembling barbed wire, its legs the size of tree limbs supporting a body nearly as big as that of a large horse, its eyes glowing a fiery red with ears perked forward to await its command from his new master.

"You belong to us now; you will do as you are told. Understand." The human asked; an empty bottle of bile in hand. The beast did nothing but snort in reply, probably meaning yes.

"Good, now here is what I want you to do." The human stood on its toes and whispered into the ear of the newly enslaved animal. Snorting and pawing at the ground with its foot, the animal listened obediently.

* * *

Hey everyone I'm really sorry that I left you all for a month and a half without hearing from me and receiving any updates. I have been rather wrapped up in real-life responsibilities that I often failed to find a good time to upload this chapter after Thanksgiving. I decided that today might seem like a good time because I have no other commitments for the next few weeks and finally have a chance to catch up on reading the series. I managed to find Against the Tide at the local bookstore and still have yet to read it.

I wanted to put in more to this chapter but I decided not to as I am unsure of how to place it into the story without getting off track. Chapter 6 will take place in several weeks after Chapter 5 story wise.

Thank you for reading and don't forget to give constructive criticism. Please let me know of any grammar errors and I will be happy to fix them.

Sincerely,

ScaleThorn


	6. Chapter 6

Rohan never really understood why Meilin thought of it as rude for him to talk with his mouth full. To him the one who asked said person to talk should be in the wrong. It's rude to badger someone constantly while eating after all, right?

"Have you been anywhere in Zhong yet?" Meilin asked, hoping to hear good news back in her homeland.

"No," was all Rohan could say before taking another bite of his meal. His last mission in Eura went poorly after a bear nearly ate all his rations leaving him without food for a few days. Right now, this was probably the first real meal he ever had in three days. "I've only been taking missions in Amaya and Eura so far."

"Some Keeper you are. You're supposed to be saving all of Erdas, not just two countries. It looks to me like your mentor is too scared to let you take on your position as Keeper." She scoffed

"Zhong has been overrun by the Conquerors; it's too dangerous for him to go there, even if we went with him." Abeke said. Rohan silently agreed with her, out of all the four chosen ones to summon the Four Fallen, Abeke seemed to be to be the smartest. Always thinking things trough before acting…unlike Meilin who just wanted to take action without thinking.

"What are things like in Eura right now? Have you been to Trunswick?" Conor asked, wishing to change the subject (and hopefully hear how his family was back home)

"I don't know much about Trunswick. I do know that most of Eura's wildlife is becoming enslaved when drinking from contaminated rivers…it's getting harder to find spring water for making the Nectar." Rohan returned with a grim shrug.

Conor's face seemed to sadden a little bit before assuming an indifferent demeanor. Whether this was out of homesickness or the saddening realization that finding all the talismans would be a lot easier said than done.

"Eko says that we might be able to go to Nilo soon." He reassured, hoping that would brighten the mood. "She hasn't let me go there yet because I don't have enough experience in dealing with large enslaved animals."

"How do you know if an animal's enslaved?" asked Rollan. "Other than Abeke, I don't think any of us have even seen an animal affected by the Bile."

Rohan sat back in his chair and thought for a bit. Explaining things was not always his strong suit. "They look a lot bigger than normal…and their eyes are big an' red."

"How do you free them from enslavement?"

"You kinda…um weaken them. You have to like fight them and when they get injured enough they uh, return to their normal state"

"How? Wouldn't they be bleeding to death once they return to normal size?" Abeke asked

"No, as they return to normal their wounds sort of…heal themselves I guess. It's hard to explain, but you'd understand what I'm talking about if you saw it happen."

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, startling him from his conversation. "Sorry children," Eko apologized, "but I'm gonna need to borrow your friend here for a while."

Rohan ignored the grumbles and mumbles of his companions as he was led away by his mentor. "What do you want now? I just got back from Eura and I haven't seen my friends in days. Is this training exercise so important that you have to drag me away from the only meal I've had in days?"

Eko turned her head with a scowl, telling him to be quiet.

"You'll have time to eat once you pack your things and head to the docks. We're going to Nilo."

"Why?" Rohan couldn't help but ask.

"We've received a report about a monstrous wildebeest raging about. It's posing a danger to the Niloan villages nearby and needs to be stopped." His mentor returned nonchalantly.

"Am I going to be doing this myself or are you coming with me?" he asked. He had heard stories of the dangerous man-eating beasts that prowled Nilo's savannah and just the thought of them made the young Keeper hesitant to go on this mission alone.

"No, I will be accompanying you and so will Glen. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Uh, er, no." He lied, Rohan barely knew a thing about Glen other than the various times they would encounter each other in the halls of the castle. He wasn't even social; he rarely said a word whenever someone bumped into him or even greet those who addressed him. He didn't like Glen.

"Good." She said. "Get your things ready within an hour and I will see you later.

Rohan scampered off before she turned around "Oh and another thing" she added, "Be sure to plan carefully on what you plan to bring. Nilo can be a dangerous place for those who come unprepared. This isn't some little fetching quest in Eura, this is something else entirely. Consider this your first real mission young one."

* * *

**Jeez that took forever. I'm sorry for leaving you all without any updates or notifications for nearly a month again. Real life has been rather demanding for me and it often makes my creativity slip through my fingers at the end of the day when I try to work on the story.**

**This chapter may be too short for your standards but hey, it's better than nothing.**

**The whole concept of how you free enslaved animals from the Bile in the online game has been something that I keep thinking about. They never really explain how it works and they never really say what happens to the animals or not (like do they return to normal or die or something like that?), so I decided to come up with my own explanation of what happens.**

**What do you think happens when an enslaved animal is freed from the Bile? I'd like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.**

**I finished reading Against the Tide last month and I'm struggling to resist the temptation to buy the next book and/or read the spoilers to Rise and Fall before the local library has a chance to get it on their shelves. After everything that's happened in Book 5 (Against the Tide) I decided to have most of this story take place before the beginning of Book 6 so that the ending of this story will somewhat tie into the events that start in Rise and Fall.**

**Don't worry, the ending of this story won't be here anytime soon. We still have yet to see our hero go on his first real mission!**

**Thank you for reading and don't forget to leave a review or constructive criticism. I greatly appreciate seeing reviews or PMs as they help me figure out how to shape the next story to be more interesting. **

**Feel free to PM me if you have any ideas that you might like to see in future chapters.**

**Sincerely,**

**ScaleThorn**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everybody, long time no see. After being off of fanfiction for nearly half a year due to lack of inspiration and constant re-planning of how the plot was going to advance. I finally managed to force myself to sit down and write out another chapter to my story. I have decided to make the next few chapters short due to getting everything packed up (my family is moving) and having little time to sit and write out a long chapter that requires lots of detail (and that requires a lot of inspiration and planning). I hope you enjoy a little bit of filler chapters until I can get a chapter up that will move things on in this story. Please feel free to comment and review. Right now, I need to go to bed.**

* * *

Rohan couldn't really recall the last time he had ever been this bored. Back home there was always something going on that needed his attention. There were crops to harvest, weeds to pull, animals to feed, the usual farm chores. But as a passenger on a ship; you couldn't do any of that, you just had to sit and wait until you arrived to your destination.

Everywhere people were keeping themselves occupied with their work. He had asked several times if they were in need of his assistance but they merely said no and brushed him off. Even Eko and Glen wanted nothing to do with him, they just stayed below deck looking at maps and planning out the best route to take to the wildebeest's last known location. Rohan wasn't sure why they didn't bother including him on the conversation.

A wave crashed against the side of the ship, lurching the vessel and spraying sea water across the already slippery deck. Rohan lost his balance, slipped, and smacked his head against the deck. Now Rohan had another thing to add to his list of why he disliked oversea travel. Grumbling to himself, he decided that maybe just staying in his cabin for the rest of the trip would be better.

"Help! Help!" a high-pitched voice called out, catching Rohan's attention. Looking around he noticed that nobody seemed to be the speaker.

"Help! Help!" the cry came again. It sounded like it was coming from above Rohan's head. Looking up he noticed there was something tangled in the rigging of the ship. _"Is that a bird?" _he whispered to himself.

Before he could get a better look, someone reached around from behind a corner and pulled him into a narrow walkway. A young man possibly ten and eight years covered Rohan's mouth with one hand and motioned for him to be quiet with the other.

"I'll tell you what's going on as long as you promise not to tell anyone, got it." The young man hissed. Rohan nodded. The hand left his face.

"The thing is Michaelis and I have never been on a ship this big before. So we decided to just explore a bit, but Michaelis flew a little too high and got tangled in the rigging and can't get down."

"And you can't leave to get help yourself because…why?" Rohan couldn't help but ask with a hint of annoyance.

"People will know something's up when they notice he en't with me. It'll be too difficult to lie my way out of this one. Please, we'll make it worth your trouble."

Rohan gave the stranger a wary look. The climb up to the rigging was 10 feet high, who in their right mind would be stupid enough to climb that high just to get a bird? He had climbed lots of trees back home without needing assistance from others and may have gone higher than 10 feet but still.

"But why me? Can't you just do it yourself or get someone else to do it? What if I fall and break my neck?"

"You won't fall, I know because I'll be there to catch you. You just need to cut the rope n' what not."

"I'm not about to risk my life for a pet bird that talks"

"Michaelis en't just some dumb bird that talks. He's my spirit animal, I'm sure you'd do the same if it were your spirit animal stuck up there."

That caught Rohan's interest. _A talking spirit animal? That's not possible, only the Great Beasts were capable of such a feat and besides; how do you teach a spirit animal to do something like that._

"If you free him I'll tell you how I got him to talk." The young man offered, as if reading his mind. "And if anything happens to you, I'll take all the blame. What d'you say?"


End file.
